Ukraine Latest: IAEA Chief Leaves Nuclear Plant After Short Stay
The IAEA inspection mission head to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Sept. 1.
Photographer: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and some members of an inspection team left the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine after several hours there. The Ukrainian state-run company that manages the plant said five of about a dozen inspectors in Grossi’s mission are expected to stay on until Saturday. Grossi said in a tweet that his agency is “here to stay and will maintain a continued presence.”
Russia and Ukraine traded blame on shelling in the nearby Energodar area, underscoring international concern about the risk of a nuclear disaster at the plant Russia seized in March. It’s the first time in the IAEA’s 65-year history that monitors crossed an active battlefront in order to carry out an inspection.